Consumer–brand engagement (CBE) is a priority in the current marketing agenda. However, there is still a lack of empirically based studies appraising its essence. View Summary

Consumer–brand engagement (CBE) is a priority in the current marketing agenda. However, there is still a lack of empirically based studies appraising its essence. Hence our study is aimed at investigating the distinctive characteristics and the development phases of CBE. Our study adopted Grounded Theory methodology. Data were collected throughout semi-structured interviews on a theoretical sample of 41 Italian consumers of both genders, aged between 18 and 35, all having a favourite brand belonging to different market sectors. The evidence allowed us to build a conceptual framework of the CBE construct and of its development. This framework highlights that a brand is perceived by consumers as engaging when it is emotionally lived as a ‘life mate’. Furthermore CBE emerges as a dynamic process that evolves in three progressive relational phases: friendship, intimacy and symbiosis. Hence, to engage consumers, brands should get into their life, activating them both emotionally and physically, and establishing with them a deep and authentic relationship that gets increasingly intimate, private and exclusive over time. To achieve this goal, marketers should carry out a brand strategy based on brand personification, value-based affinity and affective bonding with consumers. The original value of our study lies in that it has been designed to anchor a new marketing concept such as CBE in the deep understanding of consumers’ meaning-making processes and relationship stories with a brand to get a comprehensive picture of the construct and how it develops that may better orientate current and future marketing practice.

Brand equity and customer equity, respectively, constitute the value provided by brand and customer portfolios to companies. These are metrics of marketing performance in the long term, as well as key factors in firm valuation processes. However, their relation has not been empirically analysed to date. This study explores the connection between brand equity and customer equity. We employ a simultaneous equations model in which brand equity and customer equity depend on each other and also on marketing expenditures. We find that these metrics partially overlap, particularly in some industries. Hence, our results highlight the importance of implementing models that consider the interaction between them in order to obtain reliable measurements of the overall productivity of marketing actions. Additionally, our results suggest that the value of brands and customer portfolios should be jointly measured so as to obtain trustworthy assessments of firm value.

3

Why Aren't You Looking at the Long Term ROI of Ads?

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ARF Experiential Learning, Audience Measurement, June 2015

This paper explores measurement of the long term effects of advertising, finding that though there is significant understanding of these effects, brands pay more attention to the short-term and researchers do not collect and keep enough data. View Summary

This paper explores measurement of the long term effects of advertising, finding that though there is significant understanding of these effects, brands pay more attention to the short-term and researchers do not collect and keep enough data.

Measurements of advertising - and especially ROI - tend to focus on the short-term, but creative ads have longer effects and may not be properly credited.

Understanding of long-term effects are confused by a range of theories and no agreed definition of what is 'long-term'.

Current thinking is that the long-term effect of advertising is around 2x that of the short term, and that to get the long-term effect there must be short-term sales results first.

The biggest gap in understanding is around creative approach - the creative is not routinely included in marketing mix models, so the difference in effect between different creatives is not understood.

This paper sets out how PepsiCo, the food and beverage company, developed a holistic research method based on perceived brand equity to find an optimal pricing strategy for its snack brands in India. View Summary

This paper sets out how PepsiCo, the food and beverage company, developed a holistic research method based on perceived brand equity to find an optimal pricing strategy for its snack brands in India.

PepsiCo needed to know if its brands commanded enough loyalty to retain customers and enough 'brand pull' to add new customers, in the face of the discounted products of rivals.

Existing data science methodologies such as marketing mix modelling, conjoint analysis and price laddering only answered part of the question.

It developed a new, more holistic approach to understand the 'perceived value' of its brands for existing customers, how to leverage this to attract new customers and the relationship of this value to price.

PepsiCo found that keeping the price point well below perceived value helps the brand to grow loyalty, so raising prices first requires increasing perceived value, which helps the case for equity-building investment.

The paper describes the development of a tool to measure the emotional connection consumers have with PwC's Global Top 100 Organisations, and assesses the added value of that connection. View Summary

The paper describes the development of a tool to measure the emotional connection consumers have with PwC's Global Top 100 Organisations, and assesses the added value of that connection.

The methodology analyses purpose, experience and other diagnostic attributes, leading to categorisation of brands into four key types.

The four brand types include: corporate brands, which have weaker purpose and experience attributes; purpose brands, which have strong purpose attributes and authenticity; and experience brands, which have strong personalities, stories and consistency.

The strongest brands are 'future brands', which balance strong purpose and experience attributes to become the most 'future proof'.

Of the 100 brands analysed in the study, 22 were classified as 'future brands', including Google, Walt Disney, Microsoft, Apple, Intel and Toyota.

This paper sets out how PepsiCo, the food and beverage company, developed holistic a research method to find an optimal pricing strategy for its snack brands in India. View Summary

This paper sets out how PepsiCo, the food and beverage company, developed holistic a research method to find an optimal pricing strategy for its snack brands in India.

The company wanted to allocate budgets to its brands according to their equity, but existing methodologies such as marketing mix modelling, conjoint analysis and price elasticity modelling only answered part of the question.

It developed a new, more holistic approach to understand the 'perceived value' of its brands.

Keeping the price point well below perceived value helps the brand to grow loyalty, so raising prices first requires increasing perceived value, which helps marketers argue for investment.

9

Multidimensional structures of brand and country images, and their effects on product evaluation

Marketers are interested in how consumers perceive product cues in order to build an appropriate marketing mix. View Summary

Marketers are interested in how consumers perceive product cues in order to build an appropriate marketing mix. Country and brand images are some of the cues proven to be of significant impact on consumer behaviour. This paper studies country and brand image multi-dimensional structures across several brands, countries and products. A model relating country image to brand image and then to product evaluation was built with country and brand image as multi-dimensional concepts. A within-subject intercultural investigation serves as a basis for data collection (1,400 consumers). The investigation was done in Japan, France and Tunisia. Three products were investigated, with three brands for each product: computer (Dell, Sony and Acer); hand cream (Shiseido, Nivea and L’Oréal); and sports shoes (Nike, Asics and le coq sportif). Results show a conjoint effect of country and brand images on product evaluation in addition to their separate effects. Country image structures differ across countries and influence differently product evaluation. Similarly, brand image structures differ across brands, across countries and across products.

10

Brand equity and store brand tiers: An analysis based on an experimental design

The creation of strong brands interests manufacturers and distributors, as well as researchers. However, previous investigations of brand equity have focused almost exclusively on manufacturers’ brands, without considering the brand equity of store brands. View Summary

The creation of strong brands interests manufacturers and distributors, as well as researchers. However, previous investigations of brand equity have focused almost exclusively on manufacturers’ brands, without considering the brand equity of store brands. A few exceptions analyse store brands from an aggregate perspective, without differentiating their types. The present study instead considers the effect of store brand tiers (e.g. generics, standard, premium) on brand equity. An experimental design compares scores for different store and manufacturer brands across branded and unbranded tests. Store brands, including premium ones, suffer a brand equity disadvantage compared with manufacturers’ brands. Generic store brands are at a clear disadvantage; premium store brands do not differ from standard store brands in terms of brand equity.

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Comparing approaches to elicit brand attributes both face-to-face and online

Brand attributes play an important role in tracking customer-based brand equity. Therefore researchers need an effective approach for eliciting attributes. View Summary

Brand attributes play an important role in tracking customer-based brand equity. Therefore researchers need an effective approach for eliciting attributes. This paper has two aims: to determine which of four different techniques elicit(s) better results; and to test if online data collection is a viable alternative to face-to-face collection. The techniques compared are: Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), Free Elicitation (FE), Repertory Grid (RG) and Projective Elicitation (PE). These approaches are compared on the number and variety of attributes generated, as well as respondent evaluation. FE is the best-performing technique in a face-to-face context, generating the most attributes, evaluated positively by respondents and providing a typical distribution of attribute types. We also provide evidence that online is a viable data collection method for attribute elicitation studies, except ZMET due to respondent drop-out. Online we recommend a combination of FE and PE to obtain a range and variety of responses.

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How to Advertise and Build Brand Knowledge Globally: Comparing Television Advertising Appeals across Developed and Emerging Economies

This cross-cultural study examined television advertising appeals (functional versus experiential and local versus global appeals) and their relationship with brand knowledge core components (brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand uniqueness) across countries at different levels of economic development. View Summary

This cross-cultural study examined television advertising appeals (functional versus experiential and local versus global appeals) and their relationship with brand knowledge core components (brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand uniqueness) across countries at different levels of economic development. A dataset of 257 television commercials from 23 countries was used in the analysis. The researchers found that the experiential (emotional) appeal had a stronger relationship with the components of brand knowledge in countries with medium and high gross domestic product (GDP). Global appeal had a stronger relationship with the components of brand knowledge in countries with low GDP.

This study is designed to investigate the effect of gay-themed advertising as well as consumers' gender, tolerance towards homosexuality (low vs high tolerance) and consumers' brand commitment (low vs high commitment) on attitude towards ad and attitude towards brand. View Summary

This study is designed to investigate the effect of gay-themed advertising as well as consumers' gender, tolerance towards homosexuality (low vs high tolerance) and consumers' brand commitment (low vs high commitment) on attitude towards ad and attitude towards brand. The study result suggests that people exposed to non-gay-themed ads had more positive attitudes towards the brand than did people exposed to gay-themed ads. The study findings suggest that ads featuring homosexual imagery could lead to negative brand evaluation. The study finds that heterosexual males exposed to such ads had less favourable attitudes towards the advertising and brand as well. The study finds that subjects with high tolerance towards homosexuality have more positive attitudes towards the ad and brand, and have higher purchase intention than do subjects with low tolerance. Furthermore, the results suggest that people with high brand commitment had more favourable attitudes towards ad and brand. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

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Influences of Co-creation on Brand Experience: The Role of Brand Engagement

The purpose of this article is to study the influence of customer co-creation participation on customers’ brand experience, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty. View Summary

The purpose of this article is to study the influence of customer co-creation participation on customers’ brand experience, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty. We apply a service logic approach in which co-creation participation refers to co-creation of customer value together with the brand, co-creation of new value with the brand and co-creation of value together with other customers within the context of the brand. The reasoning applied is that customers’ co-creation with a brand – stimulating their engagement with the brand – influences brand experience, and through that, brand satisfaction and loyalty. A study among bank customers shows that co-creation participation positively influences sensory, affective, cognitive, behavioural and relational dimensions of a brand experience. However, influences of brand experience dimensions on satisfaction and loyalty are revealed to be complex as some of the dimensions influence satisfaction positively, while others have a negative influence. Furthermore, we show that the satisfaction and loyalty effects of co-creation participation are partially mediated by brand experience. Thus, there are both indirect and direct effects on satisfaction and loyalty from customers’ co-creation participation. Implications point to the importance of carefully managing co-creation participation in order to gain competitive advantages. Companies should be careful about how brand experience is stimulated through co-creation because of the potential risk of negative effects on satisfaction and loyalty.

Although several brand equity measures have been proposed in the literature, a comparative assessment of their characteristics and performances is lacking. View Summary

Although several brand equity measures have been proposed in the literature, a comparative assessment of their characteristics and performances is lacking. This paper attempts to fill that gap. Combining survey data with real market data, it assesses two types of brand equity measure: customer mind-set measures (brand knowledge) and product-market performance measures (revenue premium). The results confirm that the customer mind-set measure captures cumulative brand-building effects better and offers diagnostic information. However, the revenue premium is found as a better choice for continuous tracking of brand equity because (a) it could reveal the true changes in brand equity; (b) it is a practical and convenient measure since its data requirements are readily available; and (c) it flags any change in brand-equity before the customer mind-set measure. Furthermore, the product-market performance measure is found to precede the customer mind-set. This study also conducts the first empirical test of the well-known brand value chain model on real market data. Finally, operationalising the customer mind-set measure on real market data for the first time, this study confirms that advertising and distribution are positively associated with brand-equity, while price promotion is negatively associated. By considering multiple measures, this study improves the robustness of the findings as well as addressing marketing accountability issues.

The potential of the child segment offers an immense opportunity for marketers to explore. In the ever more dynamic and ever changing children’s market, the identification and ability to optimise the factors that can preserve product dominance are key to product longevity. View Summary

The potential of the child segment offers an immense opportunity for marketers to explore. In the ever more dynamic and ever changing children’s market, the identification and ability to optimise the factors that can preserve product dominance are key to product longevity. This paper attempts to identify those factors that can influence the success of products in the children’s market. We focus on identifying the antecedents of brand relationship and brand loyalty for the children’s market. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the body of knowledge, and build understanding between the factors and their interrelations so that, in the end, product longevity in the children’s market is finally achieved.

Much of what is described as advertising pretesting is better viewed as an incomplete and imaginative attempt to measure steps along a surmised hierarchical process that is only indirectly related to the purposes for which the advertising is created. View Summary

Much of what is described as advertising pretesting is better viewed as an incomplete and imaginative attempt to measure steps along a surmised hierarchical process that is only indirectly related to the purposes for which the advertising is created. This paper reviews design weaknesses in current advertising pretesting and highlights prevalent misconceptions. Elements that, when present, contribute to enhanced brand feelings are identified. It finds a link between how people feel towards the brand and the way they react to its advertising but strength of brand has no affect on gaining attention.

18

Insights that bring brands A.L.I.V.E.: The challenge of generating and leveraging insights the Pernod Ricard way

This paper describes the thinking behind, the ambitions for and the challenges faced in developing an actionable and differentiated approach to generating and leveraging insights at Pernod Ricard, the alcoholic drinks company. View Summary

This paper describes the thinking behind, the ambitions for and the challenges faced in developing an actionable and differentiated approach to generating and leveraging insights at Pernod Ricard, the alcoholic drinks company.

The resulting five-step process, known as ALIVE, was framed and executed in the humanistic and entrepreneurial spirit of Pernod Ricard’s way of building "passion brands" (living brands), where deeper connections with consumers and generating advocacy are the driving ambition.

The paper offers a mini case study, for the West Coast Cooler brand, of the ALIVE process in action.

19

Our lips are sealed: Why the truth is implicit

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David Penn and Suzanne Lugthart, ESOMAR, Congress, Nice, September 2014

This case study shows how a new implicit and metaphorical approach to research gave eBay, the online auction platform, a powerful commercial insight impossible through direct questioning. View Summary

This case study shows how a new implicit and metaphorical approach to research gave eBay, the online auction platform, a powerful commercial insight impossible through direct questioning.

Response latency, in milliseconds, (combined with task accuracy) obviates the need for explicit questions, and minimises scope for cognitive disturbance.

Avatar-led technology, using metaphoric visualisations, allows respondents to express their feelings automatically and without words.

For eBay, the approach revealed a hidden negative bias among non-users, and showed that these beliefs reduce dramatically after seeing new advertising - giving confidence that the campaign could challenge resistance among non-users, and extend the brand's franchise.

20

Standing Out from the Crowd: The Caucus Methodology for Eliciting Brand Associations Across Competitors

This study explores Caucus, a research methodology specifically designed to elicit the key brand associations that drive product differentiation and brand positioning in product categories characterized by many competitor brands - each having a relatively low market share. View Summary

This study explores Caucus, a research methodology specifically designed to elicit the key brand associations that drive product differentiation and brand positioning in product categories characterized by many competitor brands - each having a relatively low market share. It begins with an overview of this methodology, contrasting it with two existing brand-association elicitation methodologies. Next, a step-by-step procedure is outlined for executing a comprehensive Caucus study. Then, the procedure and findings of an illustrative Caucus study are presented. Finally, the implications of Caucus for future brand-association research are discussed.

21

When Do Advertising Parodies Hurt? The Power of Humor and Credibility in Viral Spoof Advertisements

How harmful is a parody for the target brand? To address this question, the current study focused on negative advertising parodies created by amateurs and spread through social media. View Summary

How harmful is a parody for the target brand? To address this question, the current study focused on negative advertising parodies created by amateurs and spread through social media. It examined the types of consumers for whom - and contexts in which - negative advertising parodies would adversely affect attention, attitudes, purchase intentions, and intentions to pass along an advertisement. The authors found that advertising parody is detrimental for the parodied brand if the parody is strongly credible and contains humor. Highly committed consumers are not isolated from this detrimental effect. These findings have implications for both research and practice.

22

Using evaluative conditioning to explain corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship

This paper investigates the mechanism under which attitude formation takes place in corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship. View Summary

This paper investigates the mechanism under which attitude formation takes place in corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship. We developed a conceptual model that synthesises three theoretical frameworks (evaluative conditioning, relationship marketing and brand equity), aiming to explain corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship. Specifically, the proposed model posits that, in sport sponsorship, close consumer relationships with a sport brand leverage sponsor brand equity elements (brand familiarity, brand personality and brand image) and can lead to positive outcomes (word-of-mouth communications). We tested the proposed model using data collected from fans of two professional soccer teams (N = 280). The results of the study confirmed the proposed relationships and further provided new insights regarding the role of brand equity elements in creating ‘backward’ effects to the sport brand (team). Moreover, the findings suggest that sport sponsorship might be the ideal context for co-branding partnerships between mature/high-equity brands.

This paper describes the development of tools to track the effectiveness of campaigns by Coca-Cola, the beverage multinational, surrounding its sponsorship of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. View Summary

This paper describes the development of tools to track the effectiveness of campaigns by Coca-Cola, the beverage multinational, surrounding its sponsorship of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Coca-Cola wanted to be able to measure the effectiveness of its integrated communications plans, including understanding the contribution of each campaign and campaign medium. An emotional approach to measuring campaign effectiveness was able to produce actionable results which in turn allowed Coca-Cola to optimise its strategies, understand the importance of different media for campaigns, react to extreme market conditions and focus on relevant brand indicators. This method allowed the company to understand the contributions of various mediums such as TV, social media, packaging changes and much more.

24

The fine line between personalization and privacy: Building meaningful relationships in the age of Big Data

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Katrina Lerman, ARF Experiential Learning, Re:Think Conference, 2014

This paper discusses the importance of giving consumers control and respecting their privacy when using Big Data. View Summary

This paper discusses the importance of giving consumers control and respecting their privacy when using Big Data.

Targeted marketing is more precise than mass-marketing, but is still one-way and imprecise.

Alternatively, the level of targeting can be disturbingly accurate, making consumers concerned about the level of data collected about them.

Consumers increasingly accept some loss of privacy as part of business transactions, but resent covert tracking.

Opportunities exist for businesses which enable consumers to take control of their personal data and share it selectively to signal their needs to brands.

For brands, this approach could lead to better relationships with consumers and greater loyalty.

The paper investigates the effects that consumer-perceived sender expense and effort might have on brand perceptions. View Summary

The paper investigates the effects that consumer-perceived sender expense and effort might have on brand perceptions. More specifically, it extends the marketing signal literature to advertising by including both sender expense and effort, and by including both positive and negative effects. A quantitative analysis of 4,000 consumers’ perceptions of creativity award winning, effectiveness award winning and non-award winning advertisements finds that advertisements with higher-than-average perceived expense and effort have positive impacts on brand attitudes, brand interest and word-of-mouth (WOM), while advertisements with lower-than-average perceived expense have corresponding negative impacts.